AT&T launches the Pantech Reveal

AT&T has officially launched the Pantech Reveal this Wednesday, and even though we already published the review over the weekend, we wanted to mention it again. The Reveal is Pantech's first "single-slider" messaging phone, since all of its previous slider handsets have been of the dual-slider variety, like the Pantech Matrix and the Helio Ocean. The Reveal is also probably the first-ever phone we've seen with both a number keypad and a vertical sliding QWERTY keyboard. Both keypads remain active at the same time, probably so it's easier to switch between the letters and numbers.

The Reveal is also one of AT&T's first midrange messaging phones to offer a new HTML browser based on Opera. There are three different welcome screens for the browser: one for simple Web surfing, another for more local interests, and a third that focuses on popular news stories. You can choose to view Web pages in the mobile or full desktop versions, and we like that you can zoom in and out of Web pages. However, the screen size is so small to begin with that there's a lot of scrolling around involved. Also, you have to keep going back to the initial Web welcome screen to enter in URL addresses.

Aside from that, the Reveal is a decent midrange phone. We're not crazy about the vertical keyboard, because the keys do feel a little cramped, but we're otherwise pleased with features like GPS, the music player, and the 3G support. The Pantech Reveal is $79.99 with a two-year service agreement with AT&T. Read our full review of the Pantech Reveal for more information.